


Frolicking on a Summer Beach

by Innwich



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Beaches, Childhood Friends, M/M, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 07:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3641544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innwich/pseuds/Innwich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian lived in a town by the sea and was best friends with a merman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frolicking on a Summer Beach

It was the last week of the term. Students sneaked longing looks out of the windows on the sunny day and teachers were too lazy to teach anything new. When school let out early that afternoon, Sebastian snatched up his backpack and ran straight for the sea.

There was a small beach nestled in between the rock caves by the sea. Sebastian had found it during one of his many explorations of the caves when he’d been a kid, though Mom had warned him to stay away from the caves.

A lighthouse perched high on the cliff. It was easy to see it on from the beach on a clear day like this.

The beach stretched out several yards to either side of Sebastian before it gave way to huge flat rocks that were smooth as a tabletop. It was too narrow to be a public beach, but it was perfect for Sebastian.

Sebastian kicked off his sneakers and left them with his rucksack on the rocks where the tide couldn’t reach them. He trudged down to the shoreline, where the sand sunk wetly under his feet. The water reached his ankles.

“Joseph!” Sebastian said.

The sea rippled.

Joseph broke the surface of the sea. He was lingering near the farther caves at least a third of a mile away from the beach. His hair was slick with water as he waved. “Sebastian.”

“Do you want me to join you in the caves?” Sebastian said, scratching his face. “It’ll take me a while to get there.”

“Wait for me. I’ll come over to you,” Joseph said. He ducked his head back under the water.

Sebastian knew if he looked hard enough, he would see Joseph swimming inches under the waves with the grace and speed of a giant sea snake.

Sure enough, Joseph swam up to the shore of the beach within seconds. He had to crawl up the rest of the way where the water got too shallow for him to swim in. His tail shimmered just below the surface. It was covered in scales and glittered with a rainbow-like sheen. “I didn’t expect to see you here so soon today.”

“School let out early,” Sebastian said. “I really thought I’d be here earlier than you.”

“We have summer breaks too,” Joseph said. “Plus, I have something I want to show you.”

“What is it?” Sebastian said.

“Did you bring the clothes?” Joseph said.

“They’re with the rest of my stuff up there,” Sebastian said, pointing at the rocks where he’d left his backpack. “Why do you need them?”

“I’ve learnt the spell,” Joseph said with a grin.

“You’re kidding,” Sebastian said. Joseph had complained to him about how hard it’d been to learn the structure of human bones in human legs and the bone structure of tails to make the transformation work.

“I’ve been waiting to show it to you,” Joseph said.

“Let’s see it,” Sebastian said.

Joseph closed his eyes and frowned in concentration.

Half of Joseph’s body was still submerged in the sea. Sebastian couldn’t see must of him from the waist down. Joseph just looked constipated with his forehead wrinkled and his eyes squeezed shut.

“Is it working?” Sebastian said.

After all, it got to be difficult to reshape his limbs with sheer will. Maybe Joseph needed a few more days to master the spell.

“I think so,” Joseph said. Then he rose from the water. He rose taller than Sebastian had ever seen him. He was standing up on two legs, two very human-looking legs that were attached to him.

“Holy shit.” Sebastian gaped. “You’re standing.”

Joseph took a wobbly step forward, and he dropped back into the water with a splash. Sebastian tried to drag Joseph up onto his feet, but it was like grabbing a wet slippery fish. His hand slipped and he nearly dropped Joseph again. Sebastian had to put an arm around his back and grabbed him by the waist to keep him standing. Joseph held onto Sebastian for dear life.

“This feels weird,” Joseph said.

“I’d say. You’ve got legs now,” Sebastian said. He’d never seen Joseph stood upright. For a guy that had never had a pair of legs in his life before, Joseph was pretty tall. Sebastian was only taller than him by several inches. “This is crazy.”

“Things look different from up here,” Joseph said. “It’s kind of dizzying.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Sebastian tugged him out of the reach of the tide and onto dry sand. “I’m going to let you go. Can you walk?”

Joseph managed two steps before he went down like a house of cards.

“No, you can’t,” Sebastian said, pulling him up again.

“I’m trying my best,” Joseph said. He clung to Sebastian’s neck with a toned arm. He tightened his hold on Sebastian every time he was about to lose his balance, which was every three steps that they took together. The beach was starting to spin under Sebastian’s feet.

“Easy on the death grip, Joseph. I can’t breathe,” Sebastian said.

“Sorry,” Joseph said.

“This should be easier on solid ground,” Sebastian said. “The sand is not helping.”

“To be honest, I prefer to do this here,” Joseph said. “I imagine it would hurt more if I tripped on solid ground.”

“Good point.” Sebastian grunted as he helped Joseph onto his feet. “But let’s try to get to the rocks. My stuff is there.”

Joseph tried to walk, but it felt like he was going to tilt away from Sebastian and fall at any moment. If Joseph so much as tried to shift his balance he would go down like a house of cards.

It was hard enough to walk up the beach without Joseph leaning heavily against him. It was like Sebastian was walking on quick sand; he was slipping down the beach with every step he took forward. He might be bigger than Joseph, but he wasn’t strong enough to carry a guy that had built up lean muscles and dense bones from swimming in the sea all his life. The most Sebastian could do was to stay upright and dragged both of them up the beach. He was breathing like a racehorse by the time they reached the rocks.

“We’re going in for a landing,” Sebastian said, stumbling onto the rocks at the edge of the beach.

They crash landed in a tangle of limbs, with half of Sebastian’s body squashed under Joseph.

“Joseph, this is ground. Ground, meet Joseph,” Sebastian said, lying stretched out on the rock, wheezing through his mouth. “I think you two will be very happy together.”

“I didn’t think I’d wear you down this easily,” Joseph said.

“You’re not as light as you look,” Sebastian said, and tugged his arm out from under Joseph.

Joseph pulled himself farther up the rocks, which was easy when he could use his arms rather than his legs.

“First things first,” Sebastian said, fishing out a pair of his old sweatpants from his backpack. “You need to put on some pants.”

Joseph took the sweatpants from Sebastian easily, but he struggled to squirm into them. “This makes as much sense as wearing a sack on my tail.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to be arrested for indecent exposure on your first day on land,” Sebastian said.

“Do I want to ask what happened?” Joseph said.

“No,” Sebastian said, and threw the pair of pants at Joseph.

Sebastian tried not to laugh while Joseph was figuring out how to put his pants on; it was like watching a man wrestling with a live octopus. But Sebastian must’ve let slip a snicker, because Joseph shot him an unamused glare.

“This is not as easy as you think,” Joseph said.

“Let me help you with that,” Sebastian said. He tugged up the pants, and Joseph got his feet popped out of the end of the pants legs.

“Is it supposed to itch like this?” Joseph said.

“That’s what happens you’ve got sand on your butt,” Sebastian said, “Try not to fall over so much next time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Joseph said, and kicked sand into Sebastian’s face. He couldn’t control his legs well enough to walk but he could kick up a fine spray of sand over Sebastian’s head.

“Now you’re asking for war,” Sebastian said, shaking sand out of his hair.

“Bring it,” Joseph said.

Sebastian tackled Joseph and they both tumbled into the sand, laughing as they went rolling down the beach.

They took their fight to the shore where the sand was wet and perfect for making sand balls. Joseph made better sand balls than him, packing them tight and small and rock solid.

Sebastian ran loops around the beach while Joseph stayed at the tideline, but the beach wasn’t big enough for him to stay out of the line of fire. Sand balls exploded into bits next to him. One of Joseph’s projectiles caught him right in the back, and knocked him flat on his face in the sand.

After Sebastian dove into the sea to escape Joseph’s punishing aim, he got two strokes in before cold fingers wrapped around his ankle. Sebastian found out that Joseph was a terrifying swimmer with or without a tail.

It was late afternoon when they finally called a truce and flopped onto the beach.

“I’ll have to wash this off before I go home,” Sebastian said, plucking at the sand that stuck stubbornly to his shirt. “Otherwise my mom will kill me.”

“You only have yourself to blame for being such a slowpoke,” Joseph said.

“I was pulling my punches,” Sebastian argued. “I don’t want to hurt the kid with the jelly legs.”

“Sure you were,” Joseph said.

Sebastian punched him on the shoulder. “Don’t push it.”

“Alright,” Joseph said with a chuckle. “Just don’t hold back on me next time. I want to win this square and fair.”

“You’re on,” Sebastian said.

A few days later, Sebastian would lose the sand ball fight.

A few months later, Sebastian would be struggling to swim with a pair of rubber flippers on his feet and an oxygen tank on his back, while Joseph would disappear around a coral reef with an easy kick of his tail and a trail of bubbles and laughter.

Many more years later, Joseph would walk down the aisle without so much as a stumble. Sebastian would be grinning so widely that his cheeks hurt, and he would only hope he could do so well in the underwater ceremony later that night. It would be the happiest day of their lives.

For now, though, Sebastian and Joseph lay on the beach, watching the sun sink below the horizon and turn the sea into liquid gold.

“Thanks, Seb. I have a lot of fun today,” Joseph said.

“Me too,” Sebastian said.


End file.
